9 thoughts on “Dems Accuse Republicans of Economic Sabotage”

1. Didn’t Mitch McConnell openly declare that they( GOP) were going to take Obama down? I don’t see the surprise in questioning whether or not the repugs are sabotaging the economy.. It’s obvious to me what they are driving for…and unfortunately, I’m gonna be the guinea pig…My whole economic existence I’ve been running at the back of the herd, but far enough into the herd so the wolf wouldn’t get me. But now I’m at the very back of the herd and very close to being economically devoured. It’s very difficult to find the pursuit of happiness when the crushing forces of economic survival are bearing down on you, and you know that those forces are the direct result of choices deliberately made to enslave you.

   Pardon my bluntness,but…Fuck you, you pack of Repugiclan scoundrels who have the same amount of compassion for a fellow human being as a death camp commandant .

2. Let’s face it, Republicans are against life, liberty, AND the pursuit of happiness for anyone not in their club…

3. Sorry to keep injecting a number of OT items, but 14 Propaganda Techniques Fox “News” Uses to Brainwash Americans is most worthwhile.

   …It is ironic that in the era of 24-hour cable news networks and “reality” programming, the news-to-fluff ratio and overall veracity of information has declined precipitously. Take the fact Americans now spend on average about 50 hours a week using various forms of media, while at the same time cultural literacy levels hover just above the gutter. Not only does mainstream media now tolerate gross misrepresentations of fact and history by public figures (highlighted most recently by Sarah Palin’s ludicrous depiction of Paul Revere’s ride), but many media actually legitimize these displays. Pause for a moment and ask yourself what it means that the world’s largest, most profitable and most popular news channel passes off as fact every whim, impulse and outrageously incompetent analysis of its so-called reporters. How did we get here?

   …The good news is that the more conscious you are of these techniques, the less likely they are to work on you. The bad news is that those reading this article are probably the least in need in of it.

   …In debating some of these tactics with colleagues and friends, I have also noticed that the Fox viewership seems to be marked by a sort of collective personality disorder whereby the viewer feels almost as though they’ve been let into a secret society. Something about their affiliation with the network makes them feel privileged and this affinity is likely what drives the viewers to defend the network so vehemently. They seem to identify with it at a core level, because it tells them they are special and privy to something the rest of us don’t have. It’s akin to the loyalty one feels by being let into a private club or a gang. That effect is also likely to make the propaganda more powerful, because it goes mostly unquestioned.

   …it is important to note that historically, those who’ve genuinely accessed truth have never berated those who did not. You don’t get honored by history when you beat up your opponent: look at Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln. These men did not find the need to engage in othering, ad homeinum attacks, guilt by association or bullying. This is because when a person has accessed a truth, they are not threatened by the opposing views of others. This reality reveals the righteous indignation of people like Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity as a symptom of untruth. These individuals are hostile and angry precisely because they don’t feel confident in their own veracity. And in general, the more someone is losing their temper in a debate and the more intolerant they are of listening to others, the more you can be certain they do not know what they’re talking about.

4. Swami,
   My poor old Mother doesn’t understand what’s happened to the country she came to back when it truly was ‘the shining city on the hill,’ in the early ’50’s after WWII.
   She keeps saying what people will do if (fill in the Republican horror)?

   And I tell her, “They don’t give a shit, Mom. You. Pop. Me. The rest of our family. They don’t give a shit if we live or die. They actually prefer we die – and die quickly, and die quietly. No muss, no fuss, no bother…”

   But good for Schumer.
   And now ALL Democrats need to start screaming this at the top of their lungs. Maybe the MSM will finally understand what’s going on, and tell people the truth.
   But, what good would that do?
   It’s probably too late.
   Democrats haven’t given a clear vision of their ideas about the future in a generation. And they sure as Hell didn’t put up much of a fight as Republicans worked to make their ideas realities.
   And you almost can’t blame Republicans. If the Democrats weren’t busy folding, they’re trying to be Republicans Lite. (And yes, I’m grateful for the few victories over the last couple of years – but they can all be washed away in the next couple).

   So, this is where we’re at:
   The immovable object meets the totally craven and cowardly “force.”
   And our demise will be covered by a compliant and complicit media.

   You picked a fine time to stand up, Democrats.
   After years of giving the Republicans your lunch money when they looked at you cross-wise, you don’t have much of a case to say “no” when they ask you for ALL of the money in Dad’s wallet, Mom’s purse, and Grandma’s mattress. Particularly when you’ve pretty much already put most of that money on the negotiating table.

   Maybe you can write books entitled “Mea Culpa” years from now about what it was like to kiss that pretty little thing on Wall Street, and how it cost you your family back on Main Street, and how you’re now just a sad and tiny cog in the minority in DC, held in place to make it look as if there’s some opposition to the wage enslavement of a population, the elimination of the sick, the old, the poor, and the disabled, and the death of a once great nation.
   Maybe you should call it, “How to Serf a Nation.”
   Regardless…
   Many of us won’t be able to read your tomes.
   We’ll be busy buried in mass tombs.

   Not much to add, except:
   Best to go out fighting!
   I’m planning on it.
   I’ll be mussin’, fussin’, and botherin’ ’em until they bury me on land or at sea, or burn me, if they have the decency. Otherwise, I’ll be a Carrion-out” dinner for other critters.
   But by then, I’ll be past caring. I won’t give a shit. Kind of like the people who put me in and others in that situation.

5. Our level of technology could land on either side. One of the bright spots is that there is a substantial video record of all the reversals Republicans have made when the Dems and Obama decided to pursue one of their previous policies, like all the examples that Rachel Maddow had a little bit ago. There is a ton of documentation, it just needs to get past megaphone range. Which, unfortunately, may not be possible.

   Oh well, make mine a bourbon on the rocks.

   Moonbats comment reminded me again of “Century of the Self” (Adam Curtis via youtube) and “Empire of Illusion” by Chris Hedges. Both of them are disturbing but, they have merit.

6. The Republicans need to be beat every day with the club of their obstructionism, their efforts to destroy our economy (thus, destroying the country), and all other destructive maneuvers they have made to make Obama fail. They need to be beat with these clubs every day all day. People need to know them for the less than human qualities they have. I hope the Dems will keep it up and keep putting the list of sins of the Republicans out there for the American people to know and understand that these guys DO NOT work for the best interest of the American people or the country.

7. There’s some very interesting arguments & speculation on the 14th amendment and how it may affect the debt ceiling debate. The history is pertainant – the 14th was passed after the Civil War – the concern behind Section 4 was that the southern congressmen would play political football with the national debt or any financial obligations also unpopular with a northern faction. The South was in the minority, but aligned with just a few northern congresscritters they could wreak havoc with the financial obligations of the country. So the national debt was put in the Constitution, beyond politics.

   The Teabaggers are every bit as hostile to federalism as the defeated South. They have adopted the tactic which the Union states feared and anticipated. I’m not sure if there is ANY precedent for the president to take action like instructing Treasury to ignore the debt ceiling as unconstitutional.

   Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

   Speculation. President Obama set a deadline about a week before the debt ceiling will be hit. That this story about the 14th amendment is breaking makes me wonder if it was leaked. Is this a counter threat from the White House?

8. Barbara

   I’m reading up on the 14th amendment, which I cited above. It got me thinking about a larger issue which no one has addressed, except perhaps the authors of Section 4.

   What does ‘public debt’ mean? Obviously the authors intended more than the national debt. The phrases ‘authorized by law’ and ‘debts incurred for payment of pensions’ refer to the future obligations of legislative acts.

   The current tactic of the House is to extort the amendment or repeal of legislation they don’t have the votes to amend or repeal. I am as biased as anyone, and capable of selective interpretation as well as self-delusion.

   The USSC (as far as I can tell) has never ruled on the ‘starve the beast’ strategy of the GOP cutting off funds and let the democrats apportion the starvation rations. (And take the blame for the choices)

9. My read of the 14th is that the strategy will fail if challenged. The public debt, including the cost of executing any legislation ‘shall not be questioned’.

   That says to me that the Constitution REQUIRES that the unfunding of any program be done as a legislative act.

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